This relates generally to handheld mobile electronic devices such as smartphones and tablets having a touch-sensitive display screen for displaying information and controlling operational functions.
The most desirable physical features of handheld smartphone and tablet devices are thinner body thickness, larger display area, longer battery life, and ease of handling and carrying.
Most of present smartphone and tablet devices are comprised of various rectangular-shaped blocks topped with a flat, planar touch panel display. All functional components including the main circuit board, sensors and power supply are cramped underneath the display, inside the body of the rectangular housing. To make the device thinner, the battery inside is forced to be thin and sometimes even in an odd shape to accommodate other functional components and the circuit board. For ease of carrying, some devices have been designed to be foldable like a wallet to reduce the planar surface area occupied by the device. For such devices with a uniform body thickness, a single fold along one body hinge may more than double the folded body thickness when there is a gap, or clearance space, between the two folded sections or at the bending area. A flat display further may reflect incoming lights that can disturb viewing. A thin, flat rectangular device also needs a back-stand or support to be able to stand sideways. What is desirable therefore is a device that avoids the above-mentioned deficiencies of a flat, rectangular shaped device, allowing more and better display with less reflection, longer-lasting battery, be able to stand sideways on its own, and when folded, without more than doubling the total device body thickness.
Furthermore, with the desire to have a larger display, mobile hand-held devices body and sizes have become bigger and bigger, causing strains and injury to users' hand and fingers when repeatedly working on the touchscreen. This is particularly bad for females and persons with smaller hands and shorter fingers. The average woman's hand is about one inch smaller than the average man's, according to a 2015 study published in Australasian Piano Pedagogy Conference. There is therefore a need for more ergonomic handheld devices for females and people with smaller hands.